The packaging of items in flexible form fitting encasements is practiced worldwide with multifarious products. Such means of encasement is particularly suitable for consumer packaging and/or processing packaging of emulsified foods in casings, such as sausage meat products, processed dairy cheese products and other foods of similar consistency. In many such packaging applications, the speed and efficiency of the packaging process is particularly dependent upon the ability of the casing to withstand various folding and other stresses, where failure would render a casing unsuitable for stuffing. One typical type of casing which is subject to particularly stressful handling is the regenerated shirred cellulose containing casing used in the production of sausages.